Considerable water damage can be done to a building when there are ruptured water lines, or various appliances or fixtures develop a leak problem, and the pump operates continuously to maintain the pressure in the water supply system Conventional water pumps of the type used for cottages and homes in rural areas where pressurized city water supply systems are not available are energized when the pressure in the system reaches a predetermined minimum pressure and then are deenergized when the pressure in the water line system reaches a predetermined maximum value. Not only is water damage to the building and the various appliances, fixtures, and products a problem in this situation, the continuous operation of the pump will, also, prematurely wear out the pump and waste electrical energy.
Numerous attempts have been made to energize an alarm system when leaks in the water supply sytems are detected and applicant is aware of the following prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,990,780 Kreuer; 3,044,402 Kreuter; 3,050,003 Edwards; 3,148,622 Le Van et al; 3,2299,817 Walters et al; 3,365,710 Duplessy; 3,473,549 Moyer; 4,797,666 Baxter et al. None of these patents have solely or combinatively, suggested the system and method which will be described and claimed, and none provide a system which is as simple and trouble free as the system which will be described.
In Baxter U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,666, a pair of timers are utilized to indicate a catastrophic flow conditon. The method involved does not provide a timing circuit wherein a predetermined operation of the pump is timed and the timer will automatically retime the next cycle, while, if the predesignated time cycle of operation is exceeded, the pump is shut down, and an alarm system is energized, until the system is manually reset. The other patents noted, similarly do not teach the system and method to be described.